Regarding the budget

Cliff notes version:

The turnout was high. The town voted against the budget as proposed. The town has spoken and we should respect their opinion. We continue to be up against a nearly 7% tax increase in a difficult economy and should be proud of our success in getting out the vote and voting as close as we did. Infrastructure, on the school side, was strongly supported, and continues to be a priority of GuilfordPACT. While we believe voting this budget down will have a negative impact on education as a whole we understand the economic issues people are facing.

What happens next?

The Board of Finance will need to propose cuts. They can be itemized on the town side, but on the BOE side it will be a certain amount. The current tax increase is ~6.9%. This represents ~$4 million in cuts to keep the tax increase at 0%. We would guess that ~$2M may be cut on the first round, resulting in about $1-2M in cuts on the education side. It remains to be seen

How much will be cut?

This will be up to the BOF. Each vote counts on this. The fact that the vote was within 5% (250 votes would have changed the outcome) suggests that cuts may not need to be severe to pass the budget. This is thanks to those who came out to support the budget. At the initial BOF meeting, there was a proposal for $1.7M in cuts.

What about wage concessions?

No doubt these will be approached, on both the town and education sides. GuilfordPACT continues to maintain that teacher compensation in Guilford is in the bottom half of our DRG (comparable communities), which is why we supported maintaining current contracts, even in this difficult economy. Long term GuilfordPACT believes that we will need to compensate our teachers appropriately to recruite and retain quality teachers. Wage concessions may be part of a negotiation, but it is likely that personnel reduction may be required.

Where will cuts be made on the education side?

Depending on the degree to which wage concessions attenuate the loss in personnel, this will be up to the BOS and the BOE (in consultation with Dr. Forcella). Non-tenured personnel and “non-essential” programs will be first.

What can I do?

Email me if you want to get more involved: chris.moore@guilfordpact.org